ONE ROOM

Heavy Roc Music do it again. And again. And again. Off the back of a roster of talent such as 'The Knocks', Alex Winston, Samuel and even more recently 'St. Lucia', comes 'One Room', swaggering into the music world without much more than a loop of piano and all those questions. All that we can decipher is that there are links to Samuel (is that him on the hook?), DJ B-Roc and producer Chris-P. As for the song, 'I Want You', it's a minimalist's dream, said piano spinning around drunkenly, ghostly drum beats being scattered amongst the vocals. The lyrics contrast with the production, the softness being sucked away from the song with the talk of nightmares, and the revelation that his relationship is cracking, based solely on lust. And despite this harshness, the sense that this could just be a dark dream rings throughout. The rest of the EP is out soon, and hopefully more of his/their story will be told. And no doubt there will be grasps at comparisons with 'The Weeknd', but for now this should stand on its own until more is unveiled.
There is also falsetto. It isn't a song if there is no falsetto.

One Room - I Want You by oneroom

ST.LUCIA (PT. 2) // THE KNOCKS (PT. 2)

Sorry.
Here we have two bands who both share the crucial ability to be awesome. And three songs that will make you want to cry tears of synth and bass. Kicking off proceedings is the third song from St. Lucia, 'We Got It Wrong', a band who have yet to make a song that isn't brilliant. Laying real groovy shit down from the outset, the song rises and rises, like a next level baking experience, the looping vocals growing more and comfortable and familiar. Until silence falls and like a Phoenix from the ashes rises part two of the song, the brass heralding in a new era of jaw-drop. A piano loop so infectious it should probably be locked away, surrounded by a woozy mess of synth and the right amount of falcetto brings the song home, this is literally what dreams are made of.

For round 2 we meet in the middle. St. Lucia on the end of The Knocks makeover. Starting off like a quiet night in and ending like the biggest frenzy in history, this scoops you up with the screaming bass and  the stunning deployment of the tambourine. Not since Romeo and Juliet has there been a better matching, except this ends in blissful brilliance rather than suicidal tradegy. Not to put a dampner on things comes the third and final song for today, The Knocks first major single 'Brightside'. If you listen to this song and do not feel like a) dancing or b) being glad your alive, then you really need to go home and re-evaluate your life. These guys are like a factory of groove, bringing stabbing synth and one of the catchiest hooks to ever grace life, ever. If you don't know, now you know.

St. Lucia: "We Got It Wrong" (Prefix Premiere) by prefixmag

St Lucia - The Old House Is Gone (The Knocks Remix) by The Knocks

Brightside by The Knocks

TWIN CABINS

The summer months came and went rather too rapidly without a care for anybodies feelings, bar those of autumn and winter. Therefore Twin Cabins should be beckoned in, quickly, to your rapidly cooling ears and minds. Because just like a can of sun and glow, they try and reach into the dark days ahead, slowly winning you over to the advantages of those falling leaves and fireworks, with just the right mixture of slow melodic bass to remind you of the lazy beach days or festival days or driving days and all that nostalgia, added together with the hazy vocals gently nudging you towards fires or forests or conkers.

They are quite a potent mixture, being easy on the ears, the flicking jangly guitar featuring so heavily in Summer Camp records finds its way nicely into the reverb of the leads mutterings and musings, hooking you with nice pop catches but still managing to keep a mysterious outer shell. Both tracks below following similar pathways to the same goal. Greatness.

CAPTAIN CUTS

Since joining the world of online music there has been one or two taboos that the me and the mouse have steered wide of. Hardcore window-licking-good dubstep and mash-ups, with the latter being the most relevant today. What Captain Cuts do so well, that sets them apart from other artists who take two or three songs and slam them together in unholy matrimony, is the cleverness and the wit behind their creations. Not since the days of Xaphoon Jones and THE number one mash-up of all time (Kanye West X Radiohead) has such imaginative juice flowed, the tracks are not just chosen due to relevance but because they actually work brilliantly together complimenting each other to the extent of turkey and cranberry sauce. The one that really got them dancing shoes pounding was 'Houdini Look Sharp' (Dizzee Rascal X Foster The People). Pause. Yeh, on paper it is odd/confusing/worrying that two tracks of such high caliber in their original form could ever contemplate working together with such gorgeous results. But there isn't any music physics that decides what should and what shouldn't work together so we find ourselves in the rather brilliant situation of being graced with brilliance.

'Houdini Look Sharp' is the simplest of the mash-ups, the songs being combined with out much fabric change from Captain Cuts but if you want yet more convincing that these guys are the real deal the life-affirming banger 'Girls On Girls' again shows the smooth moves that these guys have in their craft. Just a matter of getting that Beyonce song, 'Girls', and then introducing it Beastie Boys 'Girls'. Cue yet more funky beats and the clever contrast in lyrics and yet another completely amazing, completely authentic collision of music is formed.

Surely we can't expect any more? Until these 3 boys decide that they want to be great at remixing as well. Summon forward the best remix of the year thus far of one of the best tracks of the year thus far. We are talking the shuffle and shake of 'Manners' by Icona Pop, the boys deciding that this should be the music to fill stadiums with, with a dashing of wobble ( proving that it can be used, o so well) and a big bass line there was everything to love and nothing to hate.

Keep your ears free for their debut mixtape 'This is Your Captain Speaking' coming not soon enough. 'Houdini Look Sharp' around 14-15 minutes on Popshop 009

POPSHOP RADIO 009 (MIXED BY THE KNOCKS) by The Knocks

Beyonce & Beastie Boys - Girls On Girls (Captain Cuts Remix) by Captain Cuts

Icona Pop - Manners (Captain Cuts Remix) by Captain Cuts

JACK STEADMAN

Odd thing liking one member of a band more than the collective themselves, but here we find ourselves, in this totally freakish situation. The band that Jack is a quarter of is that Bombay Bicycle Club. There is nothing that can be said negatively against this obviously extremely talented British band, and with their next album out soon, and the murmurs that have been coming out of the camps that get such privileges of hearing big releases before normal boring people are allowed to get their mortal palms on it, they will probably cement themselves as one of the UK's brightest. There just hasn't been that special 'connection'.

But Steadman makes the birds sing and the moon shine with layers and samples and drums and all things holy. His remixes add, never taking away from the originals own features and characteristics. Take his most recent release, the remix of his own bands single 'Shuffle', in a kind of incest next level move he kind of makes that OK taking the original, which is perfectly good, and making it perfectly awesome. Because he sets a challenge, straight at the start of the song, with that looped piano, ripped straight out of the heart of the original, he dares us not to shake and move, he dares us not to like the synth and the change to the original, the samples that rebound off the drums and piano so beautifully. It must be frustrating for him knowing that he has made a song with BBC only to make it that much more brilliant so subtly and easily.

This is just building on previous work for Jack, with the remix of the year thus far, that just happened to come at the start of the year, with his magical touch gracing another talented group' David's Lyre', whose EP was rather grand. But that's another story for another day because, for now, the focus is on Jack.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Shuffle (Jack Steadman Remix) by Bombay Bicycle Club

CLOCK OPERA

Clock Opera are a fairly established 'new' band, meaning that they have had a large amount of love (deservedly) from their three previous singles, but haven't yet released a actual album yet. Signing an album deal with a highly established label, Moshi Moshi, and having previous success with, and it will be said forever and ever, the highly cool Kitsune label they are very well set up to be very good on a larger scale. The tracks that are among the favourites from the four-piece are a few months old, 'Belongings' and 'Piece of String'. They have a new single out which kick started the cogs in the brain to write this post but that's for later. These two tracks are quite simply stunning, experimental and, to be frank, gorgeous. Both start off with a layer, a foundation for the song to progress upon. With 'Piece of String' we have a glitchy synth upon which string instruments are added and added until, bam, we hit the crescendo and suddenly nothing else matters anymore. It is all so bitter sweet with the lyrics contrasting so starkly with the jangle of the strings. This is paralleled with 'Belongings', in which the piano loops are stuck together, added slowly while the lead croons about losing love until three minutes in things get serious and singing along in a terrible manner becomes completely necessary. Then the synth picks it all up again before dropping you back down. Anthems.

Chill. So after all that excitement comes the third release. And you will never guess what? It kills all over again, with all that bass and a maze of lyrics. This time we see a different side to Clock Opera, slightly more harsh but still with a sweet edge. Slightly less introspective and with more of a clean dance edge. And you will not be able to be get this out of your head, all over again.


FROM NEON GOLD >> PIECE OF STRING DOWNLOAD


Belongings by clockopera


Clock Opera - Lesson No. 7 (Full Version) by clockopera

LOOSE TALK COSTS LIVES

Anticipation is a cruel mistress, knowing that you have something to look forward to yet not being to get your greedy mitts upon that gold, kind of literally seeing as Loose Talk Cost Lives new 4 song EP is called 'Wax and Gold'. Like a drip drip dripping leak in the ceiling we have been slowly introduced to the band and their evolution. They started life with a couple of raw demos, slowly building to a single in the form of 'Some Nice Flowers/Wreck Ashore, all catchy indie goodness. But with 'Wax and Gold' they step it up all over again, taking all the elements that made previous efforts so easy on them ears and then deciding to throw into that summer day mixture a dose of Mojito and Pina Coloda. All you can think of when listening is one of two things a) moving to the Amazon and dancing around in a tribal manner or b) getting your salsa on, it depends on you entirely on what past time you want to take up during the 16 minutes of brain washing but the urge and desire will be there. However three of the song titles on the EP will have to be googled beforehand to know what the hell they mean, unless you are lucky enough to have a degree in biology, the dictionary or Mexican death festivals/Spanish skulls.

Kicking off proceedings is 'Seraphim' which has the beach vibes to it, late night gushings on the rocks and chilled cocktails with friends. It seems the safest song on show, them trying to show intent but saving the best experiences for later on before it leads smoothly into 'Hemlock'. Then the feelings of moving to Brazil really hit you, things start to get tapped and legs start to bounce, you literally can't help but get swept away in the funk. The third song 'Calavera' is the best on the EP coming at you hard with the best lyrics, "blindly reach for love in lamplight",and them funky funky brass instruments, all the cogs click together. The last song on 'Wax and Gold' finishes in the same vein as the way it started, again taking that brass and using it to maximum effect, just under the layers of the high-pitch flick of guitar adding to a chorus which dreams are made of.

So while the looters loot, you can say you did too by getting the EP for nothing (though supporting them would be that little bit more moral). Take me to the favelas baby.